DUNCAN EDWARDSDuncan Edwards, who died on February 21, 1958, two weeks after he and his Manchester United team-mates were in a tragic plane crash in Munich, was widely expected to become one of the greatest players of all time.He was just 21 when he died, with a great future, both professional and personal, ahead of him. Not only was he due to marry his girlfriend, he was already England’s youngest 20th century player, with an incredible 18 caps to his name.Edwards was born on 1 October, 1936, in Dudley in the West Midlands. His talents were brought to the attention of Manchester United by England schoolboy coach Joe Mercer when he was just 14. It took their scout 10 minutes to decide the club should sign him. They kept tabs on him for the next two years and signed him the day he turned 16.Within a year he had become the youngest player to play in the First Division and quickly established himself as a key player in the team of prodigious talent known as the ‘Busby Babes’, a group of players brought through the United youth team by Matt Busby and his assistant Jimmy Murphy.At the age of 18 years and 183 days he made his England debut against Scotland. A younger man had not represented the country since the 1880s and the record was not broken until 1998 when Michael Owen surpassed him by 124 days.An incredibly versatile player, Edwards was blessed with such natural all-round talents that he could play in any position but was primarily a midfielder who specialised in turning defence into attack. Tackling, heading, passing, beating defenders, shooting – there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do on the pitch.In his 18 international games he scored five goals and did enough to be rated among England’s greatest ever players without ever reaching his full potential. He played 177 times for United and scored 21 goals, helping them to the 1956 and ’57 First Division Championships.Seven of his team-mates and 15 other people perished when the team plane crashed on take-off after refuelling in Munich on 6 February, 1958. They were on their way back from a European Cup tie with Red Star Belgrade and had been among the favourites to eventually win the title.Edwards and his manager Matt Busby were both seriously injured in the crash. Busby eventually recovered, but Edwards, who suffered multiple leg fractures and severe kidney damage, eventually died after a long fight for his life in a Munich hospital.He was buried five days later in Dudley and his grave has since become a place of pilgrimage for football fans, while the local church commissioned a stained glass window in his honour.Bobby Charlton, who survived the crash and was also rated as one of England and United’s all-time greats, later said of Edwards: "He was incomparable. I feel terrible trying to explain to people just how good he was. His death was the biggest single tragedy ever to happen to Manchester United and English football. I always felt I could compare well with any player – except Duncan. He was such a talent. I always felt inferior to him."Jimmy Murphy once said: "When I used to hear Muhammad Ali proclaim to the world he was the greatest, I used to smile. You see, the greatest of them all was an English footballer named Duncan Edwards."
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